National Green Tribunal
Smt. R. Prabha vs Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on 24 August, 2022
Bench: K Ramakrishnan, K. Satyagopal
Item No.1:- Court No.1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
(Through Video Conference)
Original Application No. 147 of 2020 (SZ)
IN THE MATTER OF
Smt. R. Prabha
W/o. Ramesh
Door No.57/A, Pandhal Veetu Thottam
Ariya Goundampatty, Rasipuram Taluk,
Namakkal District - 637 406.
...Applicant(s)
Versus
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
Represented by its Member Secretary
No.76, Mount Salai, Guindy,
Chennai and Ors.
...Respondent(s)
For Applicant(s): Mr. A. Yogeshwaran.
For Respondent(s): Mr. S. Sai Sathya Jith for R1.
Dr. D. Shanmuganathan for R2, R3 & R5.
M/s. Sarvabhauman Associates for R4.
Mr. D. Ramesh Kumar for R6.
Mrs. P. Jayalakshmi for CPCB.
Judgment Pronounced on: 24th August 2022.
CORAM:
HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE Dr. SATYAGOPAL KORLAPATI, EXPERT MEMBER
ORDER
Judgment pronounced through Video Conference. The original application is disposed of with directions vide separate Judgment.
Pending interlocutory application, if any, shall stand disposed of.
Sd/-
Justice K. Ramakrishnan, JM Sd/-
Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati, EM O.A. No.147/2020 (SZ), 24th August 2022. Mn.
Page 1 of 48 Item No.1:- Court No.1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
(Through Video Conference)
Original Application No. 147 of 2020 (SZ)
IN THE MATTER OF
Smt. R. Prabha
W/o. Ramesh
Door No.57/A
Pandhal Veetu Thottam
Ariya Goundampatty
Rasipuram Taluk,
Namakkal District - 637 406.
...Applicant(s)
Versus
1) Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
Represented by its Member Secretary
No.76, Mount Salai, Guindy,
Chennai - 600 032.
2) The District Collector
1st Floor, Main Building
District Collectorate
Thiruchengode Road
Namakkal - 637 003.
3) Block Development Officer
Namagiripettai Panchayat Union
Namagiripettai
Namakkal District - 637 406.
4) Saraswathy Vellappan
W/o. Vellappan
Vellappan Poultry Farm
Nanjappan Thottam
Ariya Goundampatty
Rasipuram Taluk
Namakkal District - 637 406.
5) The Public Works Department
Represented by its Engineer in Chief
Water Resources Organization
Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.
Page 2 of 48
6) Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)
Represented by its Chairman
Bhujal Bhawan,
NH - IV, Faridabad - 121 001.
...Respondent(s)
For Applicant(s): Mr. A. Yogeshwaran.
For Respondent(s): Mr. S. Sai Sathya Jith for R1.
Dr. D. Shanmuganathan for R2, R3 & R5.
M/s. Sarvabhauman Associates for R4.
Mr. D. Ramesh Kumar for R6.
Mrs. P. Jayalakshmi for CPCB.
Judgment Reserved on: 26th July 2022.
Judgment Pronounced on: 24th August 2022.
CORAM:
HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER HON'BLE Dr. SATYAGOPAL KORLAPATI, EXPERT MEMBER Whether the Judgment is allowed to be published on the Internet - Yes.
Whether the Judgment is to be published in the All India NGT Reporter - Yes.
JUDGMENT Delivered by Justice K. Ramakrishnan, Judicial Member
1. This case pertains to the operation of the poultry farm by the 4th respondent by name „Vellappan Poulty Farm‟ in Nanjappan Thottam, Ariya Goundapatty, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal District in violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and also against the guideliness issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) dated 20.10.2015 vide S.O. 6140 (E) Notifiction dated 12.12.2018 of the Central Ground Water Authority and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Page 3 of 482. The applicant was having 4 Acres of land in Ariya Goundampatti Village and she is an agriculturist by profession. She is carrying on their agricultural activity in the property for more than 50 years and the applicant's house is also situated in the farm where she lives with the family. The 4th respondent had established the subject poultry in the year 1990 on a small scale. Thereafter, she had purchased 2 Acres of land from the applicant in 1992 and expanded its activity. Presently, she runs a large poultry farm in two huge sheds and two small sheds containing around one lakh birds. The exact number of birds at any given point of time was not known, as it was not disclosed or dispalyed by the 4th respondent and according to the applicant, it could be more than one lakh. The 4th Respondent is also in the process of further expanding the poultry farm and in the process of setting up a feed mill. The 4th respondent poultry farm is located adjacent to the house of the applicant and located at a distance of 150 meters from the house of the applicant. There is an open well at 50 meters from the poultry farm boundary and the well is common source of water for both the applicant and the 4th respondent who has given the right to draw water from the well. On account of the activity of the 4th respondent, large scale pollution has been caused in the following ways:-
a) There is a severe odour nuisance. The stench from the poultry farm has made living in the applicant‟s house very difficult. The stench from the poultry is felt even farther way depending on the wind direction and speed. Disposal of waste is also causing pollution.
b) Chicken feathers from the poultry is carried by the wind and gets deposited on the petitioners house and land.
c) Sever fly, mosquitoes and insect menace is being caused on account of the unscientific manner in which the waste water generated being disposed of.
d) The groundwater in the well has been deteriorated and it is not fit for consumption.
e) The groundwater level in the open well outside the boundary of the poultry farm had reduced drastically due to excessive extraction of groundwater for poultry farm use.
f) The unused antibiotics and other medicines given to the chicken are indiscriminately dumped, leading to pollution and health hazards.Page 4 of 48
3. It was further alleged that the 4th Respondent had not obtained any consent from the State Pollution Control Board either under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 or Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Further, it was also established in violation of the CPCB Guidelines dated 20.10.2015 which was produced as Annexure - A1, as they have not provided necessary pollution control mechanism as indicated therein.
4. The applicant produced the photographs of the 4th respondent poultry farm as Annexure - A2 to show that the 4th respondent had not developed the greenbelt as required under the guideline. The CPCB had identified the possible pollution that is likely to be caused, if no measures were taken to control odour pollution, evidenced by Annexure - A3, Guideline. No scientific method has been adopted for disposal of solid waste and liquid waste generated. They have not obtained any permission from the Ground Water Authority for drawing more than 10 M3/day for their poultry activities which falls under 'Industries Category' as per S.O. 6140 (E) Notification dated 12.12.2018, evidenced by Annexure - A4 produced along with the application. Further, the area has been declared as overexploited area by the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Notification dated 24.10.2018 and exploitation of groundwater for poultry farm, if not check will affect the recharge system in that area. As per G.O. Ms. 142 dated 23.07.2014 issued by the Public Works Department mandates obtaining prior permission for groundwater drawal as laid down in the Government Order, evidenced by Annexure - A6. The dust and feathers causes air pollution, resulting in serious health hazards. It violates the siting criteria as well. In O.A. No.501 of 2019, the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi by order dated 11.09.2019 observed that "we are of the view that even if Consent to Operate is not required, action can be and must be taken when pollution is caused or siting criteria is violated. State PCB may stop polluting activities and recover compensation on „Polluter Pays‟ principle", evidenced by Annexure - A7.
5. Though Annexure - A8/Representation has been made by the applicant to the authorities, no action was taken. Complaints filed by the applicant were not properly considered by the authorities i.e. respondent Nos.1 & 2 Page 5 of 48 and they have only directed the 4th respondent not to cause pollution, as it will not fall under their purview.
6. Since the authorities have not taken any proper action, the applicant filed this application seeking the following reliefs:-
a) Direct the 4th respondent to shift the poultry at Vellappan Poultry Farm, Nanjappan Thottam, Ariya Goundampatty, Rasiuram Taluk, Namakkal District - 637 406 to a site conferring to the law and the guidelines dated 20.10.2015.
b) Direct the 4th respondent to obtain consent under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
c) Direct the payment of compensation for environmental harm and pollution caused by the 4th respondent and suffered by the applicant.
d) Issue such other orders as it deems fit in the interest of the case and render justice.
7. Vide Order dated 13.08.2020, after satisfying that the allegations made in the application raised substantial question of environment which required the interference of this Tribunal, the matter was admitted and this Tribunal appointed a Joint Committee comprising of (i) the District Collector - Namakkal District or a Senior Officer not below the rank of Assistant Collector or Sub Divisional Magistrate deputed by the District Collector, (ii) a Senior Officer from the Central Pollution Control Board, Regional Office, Chennai and (iii) a Senior Officer from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board as deputed by the Chairman to inspect the area in question and submit a status as well as action taken report, if there is any violation found.
8. The Joint Committee was directed to ascertain as to how many poultry farms are functioning in Namakkal District and whether all those units are functioning in conformity with the guidelines issued by the CPCB and also whether necessary precautions for disposal of waste generated is being followed by them. The Tribunal also directed the Joint Committee to ascertain the status of the water scarcity in that area and whether necessary permissions have been obtained from the authorities for drawing groundwater by the poultry farms and if there is any violation found, assess the environmental compensation against them, apart from Page 6 of 48 initiating further actions as provided under the respective statutes. The Central Pollution Control Board, Regional Office, Chennai was designated as nodal agency for co-ordination and also providing necessary logistics for this purpose.
9. The 4th Respondent filed reply affidavit contending that the application is not maintainable and the applicant had come to the Tribunal with unclean hands and this was filed to spike her personal vendetta against the 4th respondent and on that ground, the application is liable to be dismissed. The 4th respondent was doing agricultural activities along with her husband in the land belonging to her father-in-law for more than 30 years. She was cultivating onion and vegetables in the said land for past several years. Later to expand their agricultural activities, she purchased the adjacent land from the Applicant's husband and others to an extent of 2.26 Acres comprised in Survey No.108/2B vide Sale Deed No.414 of 1992 on the file of SRO, Namagiripettai dated 11.06.1992 and after purchasing the adjacent land, the 4th respondent along with her husband started cultivating in the said land. While selling the said land and one open well, the Applicant husband and vendor have retained their 1/3rd right in the well sold to the 4th Respondent. They had started poultry farm with less than 5,000 birds in the year 2006 in the property belonging to 4th Respondent's husband which is more than 300 metres away from the Applicant's land. The 4th Respondent had planted several rows of plants in consonance to the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 adjacent to the poultry farm. Due to their sheer hard work, they have developed their poultry business and now, they have around 40,000 birds in their farm. They were running the poultry farm after following all guidelines issued by the Pollution Control Board in this regard. In the year 2019, they had decided to expand their poultry farm by constructing three sheds in the property purchased from the Applicant's husband which is adjacent to the Applicant's land. As per the norms, they had constructed three sheds for accommodating 50,000 birds and till date, they have not commenced their operation in the said shed and the same is lying vacant. Being annoyed with the growth of the 4th Respondent's husband, the Applicant had started filing several complaints against the Page 7 of 48 4th respondent and her husband before various forums. The Applicant's husband had also filed a Civil suit in O.S. No.80/2018 on the file of District Munsif Court, Rasipuram and the same is pending and suppressing the factum of filing the suit, she had preferred the present application. Though they had filed several applications before the District Munsif Court, Rasipuram, they could not get any interim orders and as such, they have approached this Tribunal suppressing those facts and the attempt of the applicant is nothing but abuse of process of law. Recently, they came to know through their counsel that all poultry farms having more than 5,000 birds have to get consent from the 1st Respondent and as per the said advice, the 4th Respondent had sent an application dated 25.01.2021 to the Pollution Control Board, Namakkal requesting them to grant them necessary permission to continue the poultry farming and the same is pending under consideration before them. They denied the allegation that they are conducting the poultry farm in total violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 & Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and against the guidelines issued by the CPCB in this regard. They denied the allegations that they have started the poultry farm in the year 1990 and they are breeding more than 1,00,000 birds and it is situated within 150 metres from the Applicant's house and 50 metres from the Open Well. They started the poultry farming only in the year 2006 and at present, they are having less than 40,000 birds. They are buying water from private water service and they are drawing meagre amount of water from the well and that is being used only for agriculture purpose and not for poultry farm. The 4th Respondent is following all the norms and constructed the poultry farm with air circulation and taken enough measures to keep the premises clean to reduce odour and flying of feathers etc. They had also taken all necessary steps to reduce the breeding of mosquitoes and insects by scientifically discharging the liquid waste generated. They denied the allegation that they are drawing huge water from the well, thereby depleting the well water in that area. They denied the allegation of both air and water pollution that is likely to be caused on account of their activities. Since the livestock breeding has been included under the definition of the term 'agriculture', she was permitted to draw water for Page 8 of 48 the farm and as such, they denied the allegation that she was drawing the water from the well without obtaining necessary permission. When they came to know about the direction issued by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi regarding obtaining of consent for the poultry farm having 5,000 and more birds, she applied for consent before the Pollution Control Board and the application is under their consideration. So, she prayed for accepting their contentions and dismissing the application.
10. The State Pollution Control Board has filed an interim report received on 08.12.2020 seeking time for filing the report stating that due to Covid-19 pandemic situation and restrictions in inter-state movement, they could not carry out the work and they also produced the preliminary report dated Nil, wherein they have mentioned that certain meetings have been held through Video Conference and it was revealed during discussion that the Namakkal District is formed from Salem District functioning from 01.01.1997 and Rasipuram Taluk is one of the taluk in Namakkal District and as per 2011 census, population in Rasipuram Taluk is 3,39,790. Further, in Namakkal District, there were about 1,200 poultry farms functioning at various capacities. Out of 1,200 farms, 30% were handling more than one lakh birds and at present, the poultry farms are registering with Animal Husbandry, Tamil Nadu and getting building approval for the sheds from Local Planning Authority and they wanted some time to file the report.
11. The Joint Committee has filed the report dated 17.11.2020, received on 06.01.2021 which reads as follows:-
"Joint Committee report in compliance with the Order dated 13.08.2020 of Hon'ble National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone), Chennai in the matter of O.A. No.147 of 2020
1. Background:
Smt.R. Prabha has filed an original application No. 147 of 2020 (SZ) before the Hon‟ble National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone), Chennai (NGT) against the poultry farm namely M/s. RVS Poultry Farm located at S.F.No 106/1 & 108/2B in Village Ariyagoundampatty, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu alleging that • The poultry farm did not confirm to any of the guidelines provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) • Not provided any „green belt‟ as required • Not provided any mechanism for disposal of waste generated which ultimately Page 9 of 48 causes pollution in that area.
• Over exploitation of water from a place which is a critically exploited area • Not obtained the permission from the Authorities for drawing ground water and seeking the following reliefs:
a) Direct the 4th respondent to shift the poultry at Vellappan Poultry Farm, Nanjappan Thottam, Ariya Goundampatty, Rasiuram Taluk, Namakkal District - 637 406 to a site conferring to the law and the guidelines dated 20.10.2015.
b) Direct the 4th respondent to obtain consent under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
c) Direct the payment of compensation for environmental harm and pollution caused by the 4th respondent and suffered by the applicant.
d) Issue such other orders as it deems fit in the interest of the case and render justice.
After going through the application, NGT satisfied that there arises a substantial question of environment which required the interference of this tribunal for resolving the same and passed an Order (A1) appointing a joint committee comprising of • The District Collector, Namakkal District, or a senior Officer not below the rank of Assistant Collector or Sub Divisional Magistrate deputed by the District Collector • A senior officer from Central Pollution Control Board, Regional Office, Chennai • A senior officer from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) deputed by the Chairman to • Inspect the area in question • Ascertain the present status of the functioning of the poultry farm • Ascertain as to how many such units are functioning in Namakkal district • Whether all those units are functioning in conformity with the guidelines provided by the CPCB • Whether necessary precautions for disposal of waste generated is being followed by them • Submit a status as well as action taken report if there is any violation found • Ascertain the status of the water scarcity in that area • Whether necessary permissions have been obtained from the authorities for drawing ground water by poultry farms • If there is any violation found, assess the environmental compensation against them.
• The Committee shall submit a report to Hon‟ble NGT, Southern Zone, Chennai on or before 20.10.2020 by e-filing.
• CPCB, Regional Office, Chennai will be the nodal agency for co-ordination and for providing all necessary logistics for this purpose. Constitution of Joint Committee In compliance with the Order dated 13.08.2020 of Hon‟ble National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone), Chennai in the matter of O.A. No.147 of 2020 and based on the nomination received from the respective department, a joint committee was constituted by CPCB, Regional Directorate (RD), Chennai with thefollowing members (A2) • Dr. V.P. Ponnuvel, Regional Joint Director, Animal Husbandry, Namakkal(RJD) • Shri. M. KottaiKumar, Revenue Divisional Officer, Namakkal (RDO) • Shri. R. Ravikumar, District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Namakkal • Shri. S. Karthikeyan, Scientist-C, CPCB, RD, Chennai Terms of References of the Committee:
• Inspect the area in question • Ascertain the present status of the functioning of the poultry farm • Ascertain as to how many such units are functioning in Namakkal district • Whether all those units are functioning in conformity with the guidelines provided by the CPCB • Whether necessary precautions for disposal of waste generated is being followed by them Page 10 of 48 • Submit a status as well as action taken report if there is any violation found • Ascertain the status of the water scarcity in that area • Whether necessary permissions have been obtained from the authorities for drawing ground water by poultry farms • If there is any violation found, assess the environmental compensation against them.
• The Committee shall submit a report to Hon‟ble NGT, Southern Zone, Chennai on or before 20.10.2020 by e-filing.
Meeting of the Joint Committee;
An introductory meeting of the joint committee was held on 06-10-2020 at hours through video conference on account of national lock down due to the ongoing pandemic situation. The agenda of the first meeting is placed at (A3). The meeting was attended by the following members • Dr. V.P. Ponnuvel, Regional Joint Director, Animal Husbandry, Namakkal • Shri. M. KottaiKumar, Revenue Divisional Officer, Namakkal • Shri. R. Ravikumar, District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Namakkal • Shri. S. Karthikeyan, Scientist-C, CPCB, RD, Chennai The nodal officer appraised the case, procedures to be followed and stressed the significance of time line. The committee members deliberated the terms of references of joint committee made by Hon‟ble NGT and the issues involved therein. The minutes of the first meeting is placed at (A4). The Gist of the meeting are:
• Finalized the date for the site visit for the assessment of the functioning of poultry farms in Namakkal district • Decided to collect the information related to the case • Decided to prepare a questionnaire for the assessment of poultry farm (A5) • Discussed the methodology to be adopted for the execution of the work • Discussed the time line proposed and finalized the same for the progress of the report preparation.
• Decided to pray NGT for two months time considering the Nationwide lock down due to COVID-19, restriction on movement due to local level containment zone declared by local administration and as it is a exhaustive work Based on the prayer to Hon‟ble NGT for two months time, the case is adjourned to 19th November, 2020.
Statutory requirement for poultry farms:
As per the Environmental Guidelines for poultry farms issued by CPCB, the poultry farms which are handling one lac or more birds at a given time in single location, need to approach State Pollution Control Board to obtain necessary Consent under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The Poultry and Hatchery sector is classified under Green Category of industries and less polluting industries.
Based on CPCB guidelines, TNPCB too classified poultry farms as Green Category of industries.
As per Reserve Bank of India‟s Master circular related to Lending to priority sector, development of the poultry farm in all aspects including erection of poultry houses is placed under Agricultural allied activities. It is reported that the poultry farm is considered as an agricultural allied activity in Namakkal district and exempted from getting any approval/NOC from government departments.
Under provision (1.0) of Notification no.: S.O.3289(E) dt.: 24th September, 2020 by Central Ground Water Authority, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Under Ministry of Jal Shakti, New Delhi for the purposes of regulation and control of Ground Water management and development gives exemption from seeking No Objection Certificate in case of Agriculture activities consumers for ground water extraction.
Under provision of Regulations for Management of Ground Water and issue of No Objection Certificate / Licence for extraction of Ground Water in Tamil Nadu State issued vide GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014;
The Regulation (I) (C) says "Drawal and transportation of ground water for agricultural and horticultural purposes in the state of Tamil Nadu are exempted from applying for No Objection Certificate.Page 11 of 48
Site visit of the Joint Committee:
As decided in the introductory meeting, meeting of the committee was held at the office of District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Namakkal on 19th October, 2020 at 10 AM and all the members attended the meeting along with the following officials:
• Dr. K. Sivaprakasam, Assistant Director, Poultry Diseases & Diagnostics Laboratory, Namakkal • Dr. P. Periyasamy, Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Animal Husbandry, Namakkal • Shri. N. Gunasekaran, AE, TNPCB, Namakkal District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Namakkal has made elaborate arrangements for the meeting and facilitated. After a briefing, deliberated the general scenario of poultry farm functioning, their statutory requirement, methodology to be adopted and planned the site visit. During the deliberation the Bio-security procedures to be followed as recommended by world organization for animal health (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019 discussed. As per OIE guidelines inspecting person can visit only one poultry farm in 24 hours interval.
In view of above, it is decided to visit the M/s. RVS poultry Farm in question first on the same day followed by the meeting, by the committee to assess the functioning of the poultry farm and to hear the version of the complainant. Further it is decided to carry out the visit of other poultry farms for assessment by roping in other officials of TNPCB and Department of Animal Husbandry due to the limitation prescribed in OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, considering time constraints and in order to cover more farms so that a conclusion can be drawn about the functioning of poultry farms in Namakkal district. Accordingly twelve poultry farms were selected based on their number of birds handling and were visited by the team individually. The list of poultry farms visited and the respectiveinspecting official is placed at A25.
As decided, the committee visited M/s. RVS poultry Farm, the farm in question first on 19th October, 2020 followed by the meeting. During the visit, an opportunity was given to the industry to present their views on the complaint. On behalf of M/s. RVS poultry Farm, Shri. R. Vellappan responded the committee, showed the entire facilities of the poultry farm, and produced the requisite documents and records to the committee. No residential zone was observed within 500 m from the poultry farm. The functioning of M/s. RVS poultry Farm in a questionnaire form is placed at A7.
In order to give an opportunity to the Complainant to hear her nature of complaint, problems being faced and grievances to the committee, the Committee visited the Complainant‟s house. The complainant house was constructed in the year 2016 which is after the establishment of the poultry farm. The complaint house was constructed within the farm land of the complainant and found that both the Complainant and her husband Shri. G. Ramesh were not available to offer their version. Only the lease holder of the land Shri. Natarajan was present at the time of visit of the joint committee and his version was heard by the committee. The observations of the committee are placed below The Committee deliberated the matter during the visit of the committee covering all aspects of the functioning of poultry farm in Namakkal district. The information presented in the report is based on perusal of various documents and records, inspection of site & and the statement given by the officials, farm representatives and the office bearers of the poultry farm association. The following materials are referred.
• "Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farm" issued by CPCB (A19) • Poultry Farm Manual (A21) • Biosecurity procedures in poultry production issued by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019 (A20). • GoT Notification on categorization of Firkas as Over exploited, Critical, Semi Critical, Safe and saline / poor quality for ground water development vide Order GO no.: Ms no.:257, Public Works (21), 1st October, 2018 (A22). • GoT Notification on "Effective management of Ground Water, Regulations for management of Ground Water and issue of NOC / Licence for extraction of Ground Water in Tamil Nadu State vide GO Ms No.:142, dt.: 23rd July, 2014 (A23).
Page 12 of 48• Journal "Environmental Impacts of Poultry Production" published by Poultry, Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences.
• Reserve Bank of India‟s (RBI) Master circular related to Lending to priority sector. (Development of the poultry farm in all aspects including erection of poultry houses is placed under Agricultural allied activities) (A24). Findings of the Committee;
Namakkal district profile;
Namakkal district is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu. The district has two revenue divisions, Namakkal and Tiruchengode and has eight taluks namely Namakkal, Tiruchengode, Kumarapalayam, Rasipuram, Paramathi Velur, Kolli Hills, Sendamangalam and Mohanur. The district comes under the North Western Agro Climatic zone of Tamil Nadu. It is situated in the dividing portion of two watersheds between Cauvery and the Vellar system.
Kolli and a few isolated hills and ridges are scattered over Namakkal, Sendamangalam, Rasipuram and Tiruchengode are along with the valleys and rolling hills, make up the characteristics topography of the district. The geographical area of the district is 3363.35 Sq. km. which lies between and 11.360 North Latitude and 77.280 and 78.300 East Longitude. As per census 2011, Namakkal had a population of 17,26,601.
Climate; The climate of the district is hot and dry during summer i.e., from March to May and in Winter it is very cold and misty i.e., from November to February. The average rainfall of the district is 716.540 mm.
The National Highways (NH7) connecting Kanniayakumari to Kashmir, passes through the district. State highways too running through the district. Facts related to Poultry farm;
After examine the data, and interaction with the officials of Animal Husbandry & Poultry Diseases & Diagnostics Laboratory, Namakkal and office bearers of Poultry Farm Owners Association, the findings of the joint committeeare In Namakkal district, around 1175 poultry farms are functioning based on the "All-in All-out" single age group principle in each shed in a farm. Out of which the handling capacity of 1028 poultry farms is less than one lac birds. Most of the poultry farms are run by the farmers. They have established their poultry farm in their own ancestor property of agriculture fields. The poultry farm is carried out as an agriculture allied activity. The poultry farms are the back bone of the rural economy in the Namakkal District and also provides employment in the rural area. Due to climatic advantages, presence of Namakkal Veterinary College and Research Institute (Under Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai) and Poultry Diseases & Diagnostics Laboratory and their good support, poultry farms are more in this district compare to any other districts in Tamilnadu. As per Reserve Bank of India‟s Master circular related to Lending to priority sector, development of the poultry farm in all aspects including erection of poultry houses is placed under Agricultural allied activities. It is reported that the poultry farm is considered as an agricultural allied activity in Namakkal district and exempted from getting any approval/NOC from government departments. In these region, Bank loan too available for establishment poultry farm in simple steps. Poultry farms are often being instructed by TNPCB to follow the CPCB guidelines. Since most of the poultry farms are handling less than one lakh birds, they have not applied and obtained Consent from TNPCB as per CPCB guidelines. None of the farm obtained NOC/ licence from the State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Chennai, claiming that it is an agriculture activity and is exempted from obtaining from NOC. Mostly, the poultry farms are functioning in line with • Bio-Security procedures in poultry production issued by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019 (A20). • Poultry Farm Manual issued by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi (A21).
• Advice given by Poultry Diseases & Diagnostics Laboratory, Namakkal in vaccine administration matter Advice given by Namakkal Veterinary College and Research Institute, (Under Page 13 of 48 Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai) in feed and water management Out of 1175 farms, only three poultry farms are carrying out Hatchery operation. Remaining poultry farms are carrying out the egg production by rearing day old Chicks to Growers and to layers in batches. The rearing cost will be around Rs.750/- per bird including shed construction. The duration of one batch varies from seventy two weeks to seventy five weeks. Egg production normally starts from 18 to 20 weeks and goes up to seventy-two weeks. Once the egg production reduces to less than 70%, the batch will be sold for meat.
It is reported that most of the poultry farms are fenced either with barbed wire or chain linked mesh of 5 feet height all around the farm. Shed; As per the Bio security procedures, a space of 0.75 Square feet is required for a bird. The bird reared in a shed of breath varying from 30 feet to not more than 50 feet. The breath of the shed is recommended. Whereas there is no restriction on length of the shed. The length will vary depends on the land availability. Normally the shed will be in rectangular shape and maximum of 20000 to 50000 birds will be accommodated in one shed. The shed will be oriented in East - West direction. The distance between the sheds shall be not less than 50 feet. The cage area of the shed will be covered by bird mesh all around. The cost of shed per bird works out to be Rs.250/- excluding land cost.
The floor beneath the shed is of hardened earthen floor and the inspection platform is RCC. Most of the roof is be AC sheet or Zinc Sheet or Colour Sheet. The roof is normally extended up to 2m wide from the exterior of cage to prevent the rain water from getting into manure floor. In case of new ones, the roof of the shed are extended up to 2.5m to prevent the entry of rain water into the shed. Once water enters the manure floor, it will lead to septic condition and foul odour nuisances, Flies/mosquitos production and maintenance problem starts. It is reported that extreme care is being taken by the farmers to prevent the water contamination with manure. Because the manure has good demand and price. In Namakkal district, so many agents are there to purchase the manure and sell to the farmers. In case, any accidental water spillage happens, the same will be managed by covering the area with lime power.
Feeds; It is reported that less farm owners stopped using animal protein, bone meal, fish meal, dry fish etc. for preparing feed for the last six years. (From 2014 onwards) because of its odour nuisances and infections. At present they are using grain based feeds only in order to avoid odour nuisances. The feed composition is placed at A6. The feeds are transported through Bulk Bunker Container. The same is loaded to the silo through closed conduit with chute. From Silo, it is transferred to auto feeder through closed pipe line. Filling of feed tray is carried out twice in a day through Auto feeder. Feeds are refilled in the feed tray through an auto feeder twice in a day. Consumption of feed per bird is around 105 to 120 grams. The feeding rate normally varies in between 105 to 115 grams per bird per day. The feed cost works out to be around Rs.1400/- to 1500/- per bird per batch. Main source of water is open well. Water is treated with 10% Hydrogen Peroxide solution mostly as per the advice of Veterinary doctors from Namakkal Veterinary College and Research Institute, (Under Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal SciencesUniversity, Chennai) A bird consumes water from 200 to 220 ml per day. Water is supplied to the birds through a pipe line through nipple with single or double lock system. The water supply is controlled by a water level regulator, bulb type. In order to collect the water spillages, a half cut pipe is placed below the line to channel the water and collected. It is reported that it will prevent the falling to manure bed. Since it is a meagre quantity, gets dried out. Vaccination: As per the advice given by chick suppliers the schedule of vaccination followed by the farmers. (A26) Litter; The floor of the cage is mesh type, the litter is dropped to the floor, where manure is collected and kept dry by maintaining good ventilation and free air flow. Once in four to six months, the manure will be sold at the rate of Rs.700 to 1200 per ton. The top layer will fetch a good price; whereas the lower one will be sold at lesser price depends on the demand. The top layer is used as manure for Rubber plantations. Bottom one is used for Coconut trees and paddy fields. Egg yield: It is reported that a bird starts laying egg from eighteen weeks to seventy two/seventy five weeks. The layers will lay the egg from 9 AM to 12 noon. The floor of the cage is given a gradient in such way that the egg rolls down to the egg tray. From egg tray, egg is being collected either manually or through Page 14 of 48 conveyor system. The shelf life of egg is 20 to 25 days. Normally the egg is sold within three days maximum. It is reported that if the egg is washed with water, then the egg starts degrading and will be rotten in ten days. Therefore no farmer will carry out the water washing of eggs. Eggs without shell, broken one which are unable to handle and Defective eggs will fall down and is managed along with manure. Defective eggs @1% like weak shell, little cracked, strained etc will be consumed and sold off locally.
Chicks; Day one chick are purchased from Hatchery and reared. Day one to eight weeks old birds are called chicks. The chicks reared in chick shed. Growers; Eight weeks old to sixteen weeks birds are called Growers. The growers reared in growers shed. On sixteenth weeks feather dropping takes place. It happens one time per batch.
Layers; From sixteen weeks old to seventy two - seventy five weeks old birds are called layers. The layers are reared in layer shed. From eighteenth weeks onwards the layers will start laying the egg and laying process continues till seventy-two to seventy five weeks. Once the egg production reduces to less than 70%, the batch will be sold for meat through agents.
Cleaning protocol: Normally it takes two months time in between two batches. The step by step procedure of cleaning the shed • Manure will be sold through agent in two batches namely upper one and lower one. Sweeping the floor.
• Cleaning of web dust • Maintenance works will be carried out • Removal of bird nest • Cleaning of cages using flame gun • Fumigation of shed using 10% Formalin Solution. • White wash • Remaining period, the shed is kept free for quarantine purpose. Normally water wash is not carried out during the batch changes. Whenever there is an outbreak of any diseases, then only the cages will be washed with water. Waste water will be treated along with the manure bed in six week time. Manure; The litter is be dropped on the elevated earthen floor below the rearing shed. Good ventilation and free air flow will be maintained to keep the manure in dry condition. Population of beetles will develop and eats the egg of flies, mosquitoes, thus control the nuisances and ammonia emission and enable the composting process. Since the manure has good demand and price, extreme care shall be taken by the farmer to keep it dry.
Dead Birds; The dead birds are removed immediately and kept isolated in a thermocol box/closed plastic container and disposed off in the disposal pit in the evening. The floor of the pit will be concrete with masonry walls, air sealed and vent pipe of ten feet will be provided. Normally, the mortality rate is 15 birds per day per lac of birds.
Chlorinedioxide and Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Compounds (0.5 to 1 %) used as disinfectant for livestock housing, surfaces, equipment, vehicle, foot dip, water delivery system and aerial disinfection Observations of the committee with respect to the Complaint S.No. Nature of Complaint Observations of the committee • Illegal Operation of The farm is handling forty thousand birds at Poultry Farm any given time in a single location in two sheds.
Since it is handling less than 1 lac birds it has
not applied and obtained consent of
TNPCB. Water consumption is estimated
around 9 KLD. The unit has not obtained
NOC for Ground water withdrawal Since
Poultry Farm comes under Agriculture activity
and exempted from obtaining NOC for
withdrawal of ground water.
Page 15 of 48
• Non Compliance of *Point wise compliance status is submitted at
CPCB‟s guidelines the end of table
• Over exploitation of At present, the farm is handling forty thousand
ground water in a birds at a given time in a single location, thus
critically exploited area consuming water, 9000 litres per day (9 KLD) through a conduit system with single lock nipple .
The unit is located in the foot hills of Kolli Hills and no scarcity of water was reported.
• Not obtained the The farm does not hold the NOC for drawal of permission from the ground water on account of following reason. authorities for The Poultry Farm comes under Agriculture drawing ground water activity and exempted from obtaining the Ground water NOC vide GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014 issued by Government of Tamil Nadu. .
• Not provided green belt The farm has not provided green belt and it was reported by the animal husbandry department that the if the trees are grown in the farms there is chances of foreign birds with infection may rest on these trees which will act as the agency for the transmission of diseases to the poultry birds.
• No mechanism for The litter is collected on hardened elevated disposal of waste earthen floor below the shed and maintained in dry condition by maintaining free air flow and avoiding wet spots/patches. The manure is sold once in three to six months depends on the price and quantity. Failed to construct the base with stone slabs, concrete or impervious compacted clay.
• Waste generated causes Denied. The committee is pollution in that area satisfied with the management of waste generated from the functioning of the poultry farm and did not notice any mosquitoes/flies and odour nuisances.
• Payment of The committee is satisfied with the management compensation for of the poultry farm functioning. Therefore, the environmental harm question of Environmental harm and pollution and pollution caused caused and payment of compensation does not arise.
• Payment of The committee visited the complainant‟s house compensation for the and did not notice any mosquitoes/flies and complainant‟s suffer odour nuisances in his house and fields. The lease holder was carrying out the agricultural activities. Vegetation in his field was in healthy condition.
Therefore, the question of paying compensation does not arise.
Compliance status of CPCB's guidelines;Siting criteria Siting criteria Compliance status This Siting criteria is applicable to new ones only. This is an existing poultry farm any how the compliance with respect to new siting criteria also examined The poultry farm should not be located within Page 16 of 48 500 m from residentialzone The unit is established 500 m away from the residential zone. No residential zone are noticed within 500m from the unit. The complaint house is being constructed within the complainant‟s farm land in the year 2016 which is after the establishment of the poultry farm 200 m from major water course like river, lake and canals Complied with 500 m from any major drinking water Complied with reservoir on catchment side 100m from any drinking Complied with water source like wells, summer storage tanks,other tanks 500 m from nearby poultry, dairy or another livestock enterprises or industry Complied with 150-200m from National Highway (NH) Complied with 100m from State Highway Complied with 10-15 m from rural Complied with roads/internal roads / village pagdandis Poultry shed should not be Not complied with. On E direction.: 5 feet On W located within10m from direction.: 10 feet farm boundary On N direction.: 5 feet On S direction.: 50 feet Poultry shed should be positioned on East to West direction Complied with Poultry shed should be positioned at least 2 m above the water table Complied with Poultry shed should be positioned at least 0.5 Complied with m above ground level Fencing Not complied with Green belt development Not complied with Minimization of air emission and Odour nuisances Complied with Feed Mills Feed mill is under construction stage Page 17 of 48 Feed management practices Feed is received in a bin through a Bulk Feed tanker. From bin it is transferred to auto feeder through a conduit system. The auto feeder has ten delivery lines. Through delivery lines, feed will be fed in the feed tray. The feed tray is a half cut 6 inches pipe and kept along the cages and outside of the cages to keep the waste to a bare minimum.
The committee is satisfied with the feed management practices.
Water management practices The main source of water is own open well situated in premises. The water is pumped to the over head tank (OHT). From OHT, water is supplied to the birds through a single lock nipple and water level regulators. Each cage will have two nipples. The committee is satisfied with the water supply arrangements.
Control of Microbial load Once in fifteen days, 0.1 to 0.5% Glutaraldehyde Compounds (Khorshalin TH) Solution is used for control of microbial load as per the advice of poultry disease diagnostics laboratory, Namakkal.
Waste Water No waste water generation management Management of Solid wastes; Feed waste By adopting automated feeding system, the feed waste generation
is kept bare minimum. Any spillage is there, it will fall to the manure floor. It will be composed along with the manure.
Litter The litter will fall to the manure floor.
It will be composed along with the manure.
Feathers Feather dropping takes at eighth and sixteenth week
naturally. The feathers will be burnt using a flame gun. Damaged eggs It is reported that damaged eggs fit for handling will be consumed by farm owner‟s family and labours and sold off locally. Damaged eggs unfit for handling will be allowed to fall on the manure floor and processed along with other solid wastes.
Dead birds Dead birds will be removed from the cage immediately, isolated in a closed plastic container and disposed off in the disposal pit in the evening. The disposal pit is of dimension 22‟x 14‟x 16‟with two compartments. The floor of the pit is concrete with masonry walls, air sealed and two number of vent pipe of ten feet has been provided. The mortality rate is 25 to 30 birds per week.
Composting Onsite composting is being carried out at the bottom of the poultry shed itself. Adequate care was taken to keep the manure in dry condition by maintaining free air flow. The manure will be sold quarterly. In one quarter, the generation of manure will be around 30 to 40 T. Top layer is sold from Rs.1500 to 2000, where the bottom layer is sold at the rate ranging from Rs.300 to 500/-.
Day one chick to seventy two to seventy five weeks old chicken are Chiken reared in this farm for egg production. Once egg production reduced to less than 70% ie., 15000 eggs per day per 20000 birds, then the chicken will be sold off.
Incinerator No incinerator is installed.
Page 18 of 48
Manure There was no manure storage facility separately. It is
storage and reported that the manure is sold from the shed itself to the
management purchaser directly on as and where it is basis.
storage
Hatchery Hatchery operation is not carried out in this farm. Day one chick
waste is purchased from the hatcheries and reared to layers
management for egg production only.
House keeping The committee is satisfied with the
Environment
management, house keeping and general hygiene in the poultry farm.
Conclusion as per Scope of Work:
• Inspect the area in question In accordance with the Hon‟ble NGT Order, the committee visited the poultry farm in question, M/s. RVS Poultry farm is located at Survey No.: 106/1 & 108/2B, Village Ariyagoundampatty, Namagiripettai Firkas, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal district - 637 406 on 19th October, 2020. Also carried out the assessment of functioning of poultry farms in Namakkal district on 19th and 20th October, 2020. The findings and observations of the committee are summarized in the report • Ascertain the present status of the functioning of the poultry farm The poultry farm in question, M/s. RVS Poultry farm is located at Survey No.:
106/1 & 108/2B, Village Ariyagoundampatty, Namagiripettai Firkas, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal district - 637 406. The present status of the poultry is summarized in this report.
During the inspection, the committee found that the Farm has been established in an agricultural land of 6 acres for egg production (Layers). It was observed that two sheds have been established and forty thousand birds are reared in total at present .Three more sheds have been constructed and ready for operation. One more shed is under construction. The unit authorities reported that the total number of birds after expansion will be 80,000 birds only. Apart from poultry farm, feed mill is under construction stage up to plinth level. Water requirement is met out through open well owned by the farm.
It is reported that other than egg production, no other operation is carried out. As per advice of the officials of Poultry Diseases & Diagnostics Laboratory, Namakkal, Vaccination is being done. Feed and water supply is being done as per the advice of the Veterinary doctors from Veterinary College and Research Institute Namakkal. In general they are following Bio-Security procedures in poultry production issued by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019.
Statutory status: The farm has not applied and obtained consent of the TNPCB since it is exempted from the getting consent of the TNPCB (as per CPCB Guildelines the farms having less than 1 lac birds are exempted from obtaining consent of SPCB). The unit has not obtained NOC for ground water withdrawal since the unit is agriculture allied activity and exempted from obtaining the Ground water NOC vide GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014 issued by Government of Tamil Nadu. .
The Committee is satisfied with the functioning of poultry farm, its house keeping, general hygiene and Environment management.
• Ascertain as to how many such units are functioning in Namakkal district As per the records of the department of animal husbandry, 1175 poultry farms are functioning in Namakkal district. Out of 1175 poultry farms, 1028 poultry farms are handling less than one lac birds. • Whether all those units are functioning in conformity with the guidelinesprovided by the CPCB It is reported by the farm owners that they are following the Bio-Security procedures in poultry production issued by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019.
Generally the functioning of the poultry farms are functioning in conformity with the guidelines provided by the CPCB with respect to the pollution control measures Page 19 of 48 and devices except the raising of green belt, set backs in some of the cases and in obtaining licence procedures. None of the farm is in possession of consent and NOC renewal to draw ground water stating that it comes under Agriculture activity. Out of 1175 poultry farms, 1028 poultry farms are handling less than one lac birds. These 1028 farms need not take Consent from TNPCB as per CPCB guidelines. Remaining 147 poultry farms need to take Consent from TNPCB in which 6 farms have applied for the consent of the TNPCB. As per World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - Terrestrial Animal Health Code dt.28th June, 2019, in order to prevent entry of wild birds inside the farm, trees, vegetation, fruit bearing trees and plantation inside the farms is not advisable, since the wild birds may carry virus and bacteria that may infect the birds in the poultry farm. In order to prevent Avian Influenza infection the wild birds should not be allowed in the premises of poultry farms. Whether necessary precautions for disposal of waste generated is beingfollowed by them Manure; The litter is dropped to the elevated floor below the shed. Good ventilation and free air flow is maintained to keep the manure in dry condition. Population of beetles will develop and eats the egg of flies, mosquitoes, thus control the nuisances and ammonia emission and enable the composting process.
The floor of the shed will be hardened earthen floor. The roof is of AC sheet or Zinc Sheet or Colour Sheet. The roof is normally extended up to 2m wide from the exterior of cage to prevent the rain water from getting into manure floor. In case of new ones, the roof of the shed will be extended up to 2.5m. Once water enters the manure floor, it will lead to septic condition and foul odour nuisances, Flies/mosquitoes production and maintenance problem starts. It is reported that extreme care will be taken by the poultry farmers to prevent the water contamination with manure. Since the manure has good demand and price. In Namakkal district, so many agents are there to purchase the manure and sell to the farmers. In case, any accidental water spillage happens, the same will be managed by covering the area with lime power. On the other hand, if good hygiene is not maintained, chances of infection is more and the poultry farm has to incur heavy loss.
Spillage of Feeds; The Committee satisfied with the management of Feeds. The spillage of feeds in meagre quantity is collected on the manure bed and sold as manure.
Spillage of water; The Committee satisfied with the management of water supply system. The spillage of water in meagre quantity is collected on the manure bed and sold as manure.
Damaged egg unfit to handle; The damaged egg which is unfit to handle will fall on the manure bed. The same will be covered by littering, processed along with the manure naturally and sold as manure.
The Dead Birds are removed immediately and kept isolated in a thermocol box/closed plastic container and disposed off in the disposal pit in the evening. The floor of the pit will be concrete with masonry walls, air sealed and vent pipe of ten feet will be provided. Normally, the mortality rate is 15 birds per day per lac of birds.
• Submit a status as well as action taken report if there is any violation found Poultry farms are often being instructed by TNPCB to follow the CPCB guidelines. Since most of the poultry farms are handling less than one lac birds, they have not applied and obtained Consent from TNPCB as per CPCB guidelines. None of the farm obtained NOC/ licence from the State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Chennai, claiming that it is an agriculture activity and is exempted from obtaining from NOC. During the site visit for assessment, the committee found that M/s. RVS Poultry farm is handling 40,000 birds at a given time in a single location and instruction has been issued by TNPCB to the farm to follow the CPCB guide lines strictly. Since most of the poultry farm owners are farmers It was informed by TNPCB that meeting was conducted with the Poutry Association to instruct members who are having more than 1 lac birds to apply and obtain consent of the Board • Ascertain the status of the water scarcity in that area As per Annexure - I to Government of Tamil Nadu Notification on Categorization of Firkas as Over exploited, Critical, Semi Critical, Safe and saline / poor quality for Page 20 of 48 ground water development as on March, 2013 vide Order GO no.: Ms no.:257, Public Works (21), 1st October, 2018 the committee found that there are 30 Firkas in Namakkal district and is categorized as detailed in the table placed below, which gives the scenario of water scarcity in Namakkal area Over exploited Critical Semi Critical 70 Safe Saline / >100% 90 to 100% to 90% < 70% poor quality Namakkal Taluk Alanganatham Erumaipatti Kalappanaikan Patti Mohanur Nallipalayam Namakkal Puduchatram Sellappampatti Senthamangalam Valaiyapatti Kollimalai Taluk Thirupuli Nadu Valavanthi Nadu Paramathi Velur Taluk Pallapatti Jedarpalayam Nallur Paramathi Pandamangalam Rasipuram Taluk Mangalapuram Mullukurichi Namagiripettai Rasipuram Vennandur Tiruchengode Elachipalaya Kumarapalaya Pallipalayam Taluk m m Mallasamudram Manickam Vaiyappamalai Palayam Molasi Tiruchengode The Namakkal District is situated in the dividing portion of two watersheds between Cauvery and the Vellar system. It is found that water is available at a depth of 50‟ to 100‟ with water column varying from 20‟ to 40‟ in the open wells located within or adjacent to the poultry farms in the Namakkal District Whether necessary permissions have been obtained from the authorities for drawing ground water by poultry farms None of the poultry farm has obtained the NOC to draw ground water from open well or borewell from the Chief Engineer, State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Chennai for extraction of ground water stating that the Poultry Farm comes under Agriculture activity and exempted from obtaining the NOC to extract Ground water vide GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014 issued by Government of Tamil Nadu.
• If there is any violation found, assess the environmental compensation against them.
During the site visit for assessment, the committee observed the following:
•Regarding M/s. RVS Poultry Farm in question the committee is satisfied with the management of the poultry farm functioning. The poultry farm has complied with the CPCB guidelines except fencing, Green belt development and providing offset to poultry sheds from the Poultry Farm boundary. Also it is exempted from obtaining consent from TNPCB as per CPCB Guidelines and exempted from obtaining NOC from Ground water department vide. GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014. Therefore, the question of Environmental harm and pollution caused and payment of compensation does not arise.Page 21 of 48
Summary of the report:
M/s. RVS Poultry Farm in question;. The farm is handling 40000 birds only at present. The farm is exempted from obtaining consent from TNPCB as per CPCB guidelines.
As per Reserve Bank of India‟s Master circular related to lending to priority sector, development of the poultry farm in all aspects including erection of poultry houses is placed under Agricultural allied activities. As per GO (Ms) No.: 142 dt.:23rd July, 2014 the poultry farm is exempted from obtaining NOC from Chief Engineer, State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Chennai for extraction of ground water.
The Committee is of the opinion that the poultry farm in question is well planned, established and managed in accordance with the OIE guidelines in general. The poultry farm has complied with the CPCB guidelines except fencing, Green belt development and providing offset to poultry sheds from the Poultry Farm boundary. The Environment management, housekeeping and level of hygiene maintained were satisfactory Also the committee is satisfied with the management of the poultry farm functioning. Therefore, the question of Environmental harm and pollution caused and payment of compensation does not arise.
Totally 1175 poultry farms are functioning in Namakkal in which 1028 farms are handling below 1 lac birds which are exempted from obtaining consent of the TNPCB. These poultry farms are the back bone of the rural economy in the Namakkal District and provide the employment in the rural area.
There are 147 poultry farms are functioning with more than 1 lac birds in which 6 farms have applied for the consent of TNPCB and since most of the poultry farm owners are farmers. It was informed by TNPCB that meeting was conducted with the Poultry Association to instruct strictly its members who are having more than 1 lac birds to apply and obtain consent of the Board."
12. The Joint Committee filed the further report dated 26.02.2021, received on 01.03.2021 which reads as follows:-
"Joint Committee report in compliance with the order dated 5th January, 2021 of Hon'ble NGT (SZ), Chennai in the matter of O.A. No. 147 of 2020 (SZ) 1.0 Preamble After hearing the matter of O.A. No. 147 of 2021 filed by Smt. R. Prabha vs. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and others against the illegal operations of poultry farm run by 4th respondent, the Hon‟ble National Green Tribunal (NGT), Southern Zone, has passed an Order dated January5, 2021 that; "We direct the committee to revisit the issue again in view of the directions issued by the Principal Bench as O.A. No. 681 of 2017 mentioned supra and submit a further report."
The committee has been directed to submit their further report in view of the observations made on or before 05.02.2021 to this Tribunal by e-filing. The copy of the said order is given at Annexure-1 2.0 Meeting of joint Committee constituted by Hon'ble NGT In pursuance to the above directions of Hon‟ble National Green Tribunal, the Joint Committee had its meeting on 19th February, 2021 through video conference and deliberated the issues. Based on the deliberations further report is furnished as under:
I. The order dated 16th September, 2020 passed by the Hon‟ble NGT, Principal Bench in O.A.NO. 681 of 2017 states that:
"17. Accordingly, we allow this application and direct the CPCB to revisit the guidelines for categorizing the poultry farms as green category and exempting their regulation under the Air Act, Water Act and the EP Act. The CPCB may issue fresh appropriate orders within three months and in if no further order is issued, all the State PCBs/PCCs will require enforcement of consent mechanism under the above Acts after 01.01.2021 for all poultry farms above 5000 birds in the same manner as is being done for farms having more than one lac birds. Till then, Page 22 of 48 even without such consent mechanism, the State PCB/PCCs may strictly enforce the environmental norms and take appropriate remedial action against the any violation of water, air and soil standards statutorily laid down"
In compliance with the above said order of Hon‟ble NGT (PB), CPCB is working on the revisit of guidelines for categorising the poultry farms as green category and exempting their regulation under Water, Air and E(P) Acts and the same is under progress.
II. In accordance with the order dated 16th September, 2020, Poultry farms handling more than 5000 birds have to obtain the consent from the respective state pollution control board with effect from 1st January, 2021. During the inspection, the Committee observed that all the Environmental norms were complying except the consent from TNPCB III. The joint Committee has enquired the compliance status of Statutory requirement by the Poultry farms and it is informed by the office of DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal and Kumarapalayam that;
a). The poultry farm in question, M/s RVS Poultry Farm, Ariyagoundampatti village, Rasipuram taluk, Namakkal district applied for grant of consent from TNPCB through OCMMS on 20.10.2020. The resubmitted application on 05.02.2020 was returned to the unit, since the unit has not submitted some additional particulars and case (O.A. No. 147/2020) is pending before Hon‟ble NGT.
b). Consent has been granted to M/s Mahalakshmi Poultry Farm, Survey NO.:
40/2, 41/1, 2, 3 village Kalangani, NH7 Main Road, Reddipudur (PO), Namakkal Taluk, Namakkal District and the same is valid up to 31st March, 2026.
c). The balance ten poultry farm did not apply for grant of Consent from TNPCB.
d) Further, in compliance with the order of Hon‟ble NGT(PB), the offce of District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Namakkal has taken steps to enforce consent mechanism under water, Air and EP Acts with effect from 01.01.2021 for all the poultry farms handling more than 5000 birds in the same
e). Manner as is being done for farms handling more than one lac birds. The status of action taken by TNPCB is as below:
S.NO. Subject No. Of cases 1. 1. Consent granted 7 2. 2. Consent under process 1 3. 3. Show cause Notice (SCN) 436 so far as on 01.02.2021
By considering all the above facts, the Hon‟ble NGT may pass appropriate order/Directions as deemed fit."
13. On 22.03.2021, after considering the above report, this Tribunal had passed the following order:-
"5. It is seen from the report that 7 units have been granted consent, 1 unit is under process and show-cause notice has been issued to 436 units as on 01.02.2021. It may be mentioned here that in the earlier report dated 17.11.2020 filed by the Joint Committee, it was mentioned that there were 1175 poultry farms in Namakal district of which 1028 are handling less than one lakh birds and according to the earlier guidelines of the CPCB, they need not obtain any consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Out of the remaining poultry farms of 147 who are handling more than one lakh birds, only 6 have applied for consent from the Board but we have reiterated in our earlier order that as per the direction of the Principal Bench in O.A No. 681 of 2017 dated 16.09.2020, the Poultry farms having more than 5,000 birds also have to apply for consent from 01.01.2021 if the CPCB did not issue any further guidelines in this regard in tune with the direction issued by Principal Bench.
6. But in the latest report submitted, there is a long gap regarding this aspect. When this was pointed out Learned Counsel for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board submitted that they will come with further detailed report regarding this aspect. It is not clear from the report as to whether 4th respondent had filed any Page 23 of 48 application for consent and if so what is the present status of that application as well. They are directed to file detailed report clarifying these aspects on or before 28.04.2021 by e-filling in the form of searchable PDF/OCR supportable PDF and not in the form of image PDF along with necessary hardcopies to be produced as per Rules.
7. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the members of the committee and also to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board by e-mail immediately for information and compliance of the direction."
14. The State Pollution Control Board also filed a report signed by the officer on 24.11.2021, e-filed on the same date which reads as follows:-
"3. It is respectfully submitted that as per the orders of the Hon'ble NGT (PB) in O.A. No. 681 of 2017 dated 16.10.2021, the CPCB has issued environmental guidelines for Poultry Farms in August, 2021. As per the guidelines, the Poultry Farms handling birds above 25,000 at single location will have to obtain Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 from State Pollution Control Board. The Poultry Farms are categorised under the "Green Category".
4. It is respectfully submitted that to comply with the orders of the Hon'ble NGT (SZ) dated 22.03.2021, show cause notices were issued to the 436 numbers of Poultry farms operating with more than 25,000 birds and without consent of the Board by the DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal. Earlier to the issuance of August, 2021 CPCB guidelines, eight poultry farms have obtained consent of the TNPCB. In order to bring all the poultry farms having more than 25,000 birds under consent mechanism, a meeting was conducted with the Poultry farm owners on 28.09.2021 and explained about the guidelines issued by the CPCB.
4. It is respectfully submitted that, the Poultry Farm Associations vide their letter dated 05.10.2021 (copy enclosed as Annexure - 1) has requested three months time (i.e till 31.12.2021) to carry out the works such as vehicle tyre dip, providing mesh for composting area etc., which are stipulated in the recent CPCB guidelines. After completion of the measures prescribed in guidelines of the CPCB, the poultry farm can obtain consent of the Board.
5. It is respectfully submitted that 48 numbers of poultry farms applied for the consent of the Board and the applications were returned to the units to fully comply with all the aspects mentioned in the CPCB guidelines issued in August 2021. Also the poultry farmers association vide their letter dated 02.11.2021 (copy enclosed as Annexure -2) submitted a representation stating that they have complied most of the Clauses in the CPCB guidelines in August 2021 except few conditions which are practically not viable and they stated that they have made appeal to the CPCB to revisit and to revise the guidelines. On receipt of the revised guidelines, they will resubmit/submit the fresh application for the Consent of the Board and they have requested the Board not to take any further action against the member units.
6. It is respectfully submitted that the unit of M/s. RVS Poultry Farm has applied for Consent of the Board since the unit had only 70,000 birds which is less than 1 Lakh bird is exempted from consent purview as per earlier CPCB guidelines, 2015 hence the application was returned to the unit. Now, as per the revised CPCB guidelines August, 2021, the unit has been instructed to comply the CPCB guidelines in all the aspects and apply for the Consent of the Board. The unit is yet to file the application.
7. Therefore, it is respectfully submitted that the request of the poultry farm owners association may be considered and it is humbly prayed that the Hon'ble NGT (SZ) may grant three months time to complete the consent process."
Page 24 of 4815. The CPCB also filed the report dated Nil, e-filed on 31.05.2021 in respect of mechanism adopted by them in framing the guidelines for poultry farms which reads as follows:-
"Mechanism adopted in drafting the Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farms August, 2021 & January 2022
1. Guidelines for Poultry farms were developed in the year 2015, which was applicable to poultry farms handling above 1.0 lac birds. As per CPCB classification of industrial sectors, Poultry, Hatchery and Piggery are categorized into "Green".
2. In the matter of O.A No. 681 of 2017, Hon'ble NGT, passed the following order on 16th September, 2020:
"Accordingly we allow this application and direct CPCB to revisit the guidelines for categorizing the poultry farms as Green category and exempting their regulation under Air, Water & EP Act. CPCB may issue fresh appropriate orders within three months and in it no further order is issued, all the State PCBS / PCCS will require enforcement of consent mechanism under the above acts after 01.01.2021 for all Poultry Farms above 5000 birds in the same manner as is being done for farms having more than one lac birds. Till then, even without such consent mechanism, the state PCBS / PCCS may strictly enforce the environmental norms and take appropriate remedial action against any violation of water, air and soil standards statutorily laid down."
To comply with the Hon'ble NGT, following methodology adopted by CPCB :
Literature survey & collection of data : Literature survey and collection of data collection of information through various stakeholders was done to get the details of best practice adopted in the Poultry Farms Field Study & Monitoring : Field Study & Monitoring of selected Poultry Farms were done by CPCB, to assess Air, Ground water & Solid waste characteristics Constitution of Expert Committee : CPCB has constituted an Expert Committee comprising members from Department of Animal Husbandry ICAR - Directorate of Poultry Research, Shri N.K. Verma, Ex. AD, CPCB. Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board & Central Pollution Control Board.
Preparation of draft Guidelines: Based on the literature survey collection of information through various stakeholders and in-depth studies carried out in various capacities of poultry farms, findings were presented before the Expert Committee and accordingly the guidelines was framed consultation with the Expert Committee Consultation with the stakeholders: Draft guideline were shared with expert committee members / various stakeholder's to get their inputs / views comments.
Preparation of Final Guideline: Based on field studies data, inputs Expert Committee and comments of various stakeholders, guidelines were formulated.
3. In compliance of Hon'ble NGT order dated 16.09.2020 (OA No. 681 of 2017), CPCB has issued Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farms in August 2021 and as per these Guidelines, Poultry Farms handling birds above 25,000 at single location are required to obtain consent to establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO).
4. Subsequent to the aforesaid order, Hon'ble NGT (PB) in the matter of
0.A. No. 320/2021 ( Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors ) passed the following order on 10.12.2021 " ... Accordingly, we direct that while the impugned guidelines be immediately enforced, all poultry farms above 5000 birds will also be covered by the said guidelines latest from 1.1.2023. The siting criteria should apply to all consents / renewals hereafter for the above size of the poultry farms. CPCB may issue revised guidelines to all the State PCBS / PCCS in terms of the above order within one month."
5. Complying with the Hon'ble NGT order 10.12.2021 revised Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farms applicable to all poultry farms above 5000 birds were circulated to all SPCBS / PCCS in January 2022."
Page 25 of 4816. Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board also filed the further report signed by the officer on 31.05.2022, e-filed on 09.06.2022 which reads as follows:-
"Report with respect to DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal:
2. It is respectfully submitted that in complaince with the orders of the Hon'ble NGT(SZ)order dated 22.03.2021, show cause notices were issued to all the Poultry farms operating with more than 25000 birds in the jurisdiction of the DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal. Earlier to the issuance of the August 2021 CPCB Guidelines, eight poultry farms have obtained consent of the TNPCB. The Central Pollution Control Board issued the revised guidelines in August 2021. In this regard, a meeting was conducted by the DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal with the poultry farm owners on 28.09.2021 and explained about the guidelines issued by CPCB during August 2021. In continuation to meeting and after the issuance of new guidelines, 67 Nos of the poultry farms in Namakkal District applied for the consent of the Board till date and remitted the consent fee. The applications were returned to the units to fully comply all the aspects mentioned in the CPCB guidelines issued in August 2021.
3. It is respectfully submitted that the poultry farmers associations vide their letter dated 05.10.2021 have requested three months time (i.e. till 31.12.2021) to carry out the works such as vehicle tyre dip, providing mesh to composting area etc., which are stipulated in the recent CPCB guidelines. Also the poultry farmers association vide their letter dated 02.11.2021 submitted a representation stating that they have complied most of the clauses in the CPCB guidelines issued in August 2021 except few conditions which are practically not viable and they have stated that they have made appeal to the Central Pollution Control Board to revisit and to revise the guidelines. They also stated that after receipt of the revised guidelines they will resubmit/submit the application for the consent of the Board and they have requested the Board not to take any further action against their member units. Hence, it is submitted that none of the poultry farms operating in the jurisdiction of the DEE, TNPCB, Namakkal have complied the CPCB guidelines issued in January 2022.
The details of Poultry farms in the Jurisdiction of Olo. District Environmental Engineer, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Namakkal is as follows.
Sl. No. No. of Birds in the poultry No. of Poultry Show cause
farm farms notice issued
1 Below 5000 birds 37 -
2 5000 to 25000 bird 341 71
3 Above 25000 to 1 Lakh birds 296 296
4 Above 1 Lakh birds 134 134
Total 808 501
4. It is respectfully submitted that the unit of M/s. T.S. Sekar Poultry Farm, S.F. No. 731/2, 732/2, Navani Village, Puthuchathiram Union, Namakkal Taluk, Namakkal District was issued for closure direction and power supply disconnection orders vide Board's Proceeding dated 26.05.2022.
5. It is further submitted that the unit of RVS Poultry Farm, 106 Malananjappan Thottam, Ariyagoundampatty Village, Namagiripettai post, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal District has applied for the consent of the Board since the unit had only 70000 Birds which is less than 1 lakh birds, the unit was under
exemption from obtaining consent of the Board as per the CPCB guidelines issued in 2015 and hence the application was returned to the unit. But at present the threshold limit is fixed as 25000 birds in the revised CPCB guide lines and as per the revised guide lines, the unit has been instructed to full fill all the aspects in the revised CPCB guidelines issued in August 2021 and to resubmit the application. The unit has not yet resubmitted the application. The unit has not complied the Environment guidelines for poultry farms January 2022. During the inspection of the unit on 24.05.2022 and the following was observed:Page 26 of 48
i. The unit has provided wind net arrester & provided dense greenbelt with trees in North - South direction in western side boundary of the unit facing the Petitioner's house.
6. It is respectfully submitted that, all poultry farms are often being instructed by the DEE, TNPCB to follow the CPCB guidelines. The Namakkal District is situated in the dividing portion of two watersheds between Cauvery and the Vellar system. It is found that ground water is available at a depth of 50' to 100' with water column varying from 20 to 40' in the open wells located within or adjacent to the poultry farms in the Namakkal District. None of the poultry farm has obtained the NOC to draw ground water from open well or borewell from the Chief Engineer, State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Chennai for extraction of ground water stating that the poultry farm comes under agriculture activity and exempted from obtaining the NOC to extract Ground water vide GO (Ms) No.: 142 dated 23.07.2014 issued by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Report with respect to DEE, TNPCB. Kumarapalayam:
7. It is respectfully submitted that there are 17 poultry farms handling 1 Lakh or more birds which were inspected on 26 & 27th November 2020 and Show Cause Notices were issued to 17 poultry farms vide DEE, Kumarapalayam proceedings dated 02.12.2020 and Personal hearing conducted on 15.04.2021 in which 13 poultry farms have attended the personal hearing.
Subsequently, the poultry farms which are handling more than 5000 birds and up to 1 Lakh birds of poultry farms were identified and issued with Show Cause Notice vide DEE, Kumarapalayam proceedings dated 27.01.2021 and 29.01.2021 and personal hearing was conducted on 28.07.2021 and 29.07.2021 in which 22 poultry farms have attended the personal hearing The details of poultry farms in the jurisdiction of DEE, TNPCB, Kumarapalyam is as follows Sl. No. No. of Birds in the poultry No. of Poultry Show cause farm farms notice issued 1 Below 5000 birds 1 -
2 5000 to 25000 bird 86 86 3 Above 25000 to 1 Lakh birds 69 69 4 Above 1 Lakh birds 17 17 Total 173 1728. It is further submitted that 10 poultry farms have applied for the consent of the Board. The applications have been returned to the units and requested them to resubmit the application after complying the environmental guidelines for Poultry Farms, January 2022 issued by the CPCB.
9. It is respectfully submitted that as per the orders passed by the Hon'ble NGT (PB) in O.A.No.320/2020, TNPCB has issued instructions to all the DEES, TNPCB, to inventerize the poultry farms and bring under the consent mechanism and follow the CPCB guidelines issued in January, 2022."
17. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the applicant and respondents.
18. The learned counsel appearing for the applicant argued that in Namakkal District most of the poultry units are functioning without consent and against the directions issued by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi and also against the guidelines issued by the CPCB in this regard and the area being categorized as overexploited area in respect of water scarcity, drawing water without obtaining permission Page 27 of 48 from the authorities is illegal and there was no mechanism provided by the 4th respondent for avoiding pollution being caused on account of their operation.
19. The learned counsel appearing for the applicant further argued that most of the findings of the Joint Committee are perverse and they did not address the issue raised by the applicant. Further, since it was found that the 4th respondent unit is functioning without consent, it is for the authorities to take appropriate action as it is in violation of the environmental laws. Still odour pollution and water pollution is being caused and over drawal of water from the open well will have impact on the groundwater recharge system in that area. Further, the civil suit said to have been pending as alleged by the 4th respondent in their counter statement is nothing to do with the environmental issues and that is only a property dispute and there was no claim made in respect of environmental issues in that case. So, according to the learned counsel, the applicant had established their case and prayed for passing appropriate directions.
20. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the 4th respondent submitted that there is no merit in the submission made by the learned counsel appearing for the applicant and the allegations are baseless, as it is evident from the report submitted by the Joint Committee. Further, they will abide any directions issued by this Tribunal to protect the environment.
21. The learned counsel appearing for the SPCB and CPCB argued that earlier as per the guidelines of the CPCB, poultry farm having more than one lakh birds alone were brought under the consent mechanism and after the directions issued by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi in O.A. No.681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) dated 16.09.2020, whereby the Tribunal directed the CPCB to revisit the guidelines and issue a fresh guidelines and till fresh guidelines are issued, the unit having more than 5,000 must be brought under the consent mechanism. Even if it is not coming under the consent mechanism, whenever air or water pollution occurred on account of the Page 28 of 48 operation, then the SPCB will have right to instruct and take appropriate action against the erring units. Thereafter, the CPCB issued another guideline whereby the poultry farm having more than 25,000 birds were brought under the consent mechanism and this was also challenged before the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi as O.A. No.320 of 2021 and by order dated 10.12.2021 while approving the guideline issued by the CPCB, the Tribunal further observed that it is against the earlier directions issued in O.A. No.681 of 2017 and directed to modify the guidelines to bring the poultry farm more than 5,000 birds also under the consent mechanism and they will have to obtain consent from the Board on or before 01.01.2023. It is on that basis, further directions have been issued and they are taking steps to alert the poultry owners to get consent, if the birds are more than 5,000 and that process is under progress. As regards the 4th respondent's poultry farm is concerned, except certain violations of providing greenbelt and fencing, overall management of the poultry farm is satisfactory and there was no possibility of odour coming and they are having all mechanism to prevent the same. They further argued that NOC is not required, as it is an allied agricultural activity and it was exempted from obtaining NOC by the Ground Water Authority. They further submitted that they will abide by any directions issued by this Tribunal.
22. The learned counsel appearing for the State Government also submitted that since it is an agricultural activity and people are adopting this as an avocation to improve their economic status, any harsh direction given will affect the interest of the poultry farms and it will adversely affect the interest of the people who are engaged in such activities and moreover, drawal of water for that purpose cannot be said to be an unauthorized one. The Government is taking all necessary steps to protect them and also providing necessary guidelines as to how this will have to be conducted without causing pollution.
23. We have considered the pleadings, reports submitted by the Joint Committee and also by the Pollution Control Board and submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties.
Page 29 of 4824. The points that arose for consideration are:-
a. Whether the 4th respondent had committed any violation of environmental laws in establishing the poultry farm? b. Whether there was any air or water pollution caused on account of the operation of the 4th respondent poultry farm which is situated near the property of the applicant? c. Whether there was any damage caused to the environment and whether there is any necessity for imposing environmental compensation against the 4th respondent for the damage caused to the environment as well as violation said to have been committed and if so, what is the quantum of compensation payable?
d. What are all the necessary directions to be issued applying the 'Precautionary Principle' to protect the environment to be carried out by the 4th respondent and other poultry farms in that district?
e. Relief and costs.
POINTS:-
25. Grievance in this application was regarding the operation of the 4th respondent poultry farm which according to the applicant is being operated by the 4th respondent without obtaining necessary consent and without providing necessary pollution control mechanism and obtaining permission from the authorities for drawal of groundwater and causing air, water and soil pollution.
26. The allegations were denied by the 4th respondent and in the counter statement, the 4th respondent had categorically stated that they are conducting the poultry farm not from 1990 but only from 2006 and they started with less than 5,000 birds earlier and thereafter, it was slowly increased and now they are breeding around 40,000 birds. Due to the jealous attitude of the applicant regarding the progress of the 4th respondent prompted her to file this application with false allegations, especially when she had only pointed out the 4th respondent alone as Page 30 of 48 violating unit especially when there are number of such units functioning in that area and that showed the malafides on the part of the applicant in filing the application. When a case was filed, as directed by their counsel, they applied for consent as it was advised that as per the directions of the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, poultry farm having more than 5,000 birds have to obtain consent and that application is under process. They are adopting all good practices for conducting a poultry farm and there was no odour pollution arises. Since it is an allied agricultural activity, no permission is required for drawing ground water and according to the 4th respondent, there is no merit in the application and the same is liable to be dismissed.
27. In order to ascertain the genuineness of the allegations made, this Tribunal had appointed a Joint Committee to go into the question and directed them to submit the report and they have submitted various reports.
28. It is needless to say that the civil suit filed by the applicant against the 4 th respondent as Original Suit No.80 of 2018 before the District Munsif Court, Rasipuram will not prevent the applicant from approaching this Tribunal in respect of environmental issues that is being caused on account of operation of the 4th respondent unit, as that suit related to obstruction being caused to the drawal of water from the well which has been kept for common use both by the 4th respondent and the applicant.
29. As regards the consent mechanism is concerned, earlier the CPCB has issued a circular in the year 2015 in respect of conduct of poultry farms and in that circular, only those poultry farms which are breeding more than one lakh birds at any point of time alone were brought under the consent mechanism, as since as per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines for granting loan for priority sectors, this was treated as an allied agricultural activity and in order to promote the economy of the local people and encourage people to conduct such poultry farms to enhance their economy level.
Page 31 of 4830. Further, since those guidelines were not sufficient to meet the pollution control mechanism that is being adopted by the poultry farms and addressed the pollution issue even by the poultry farms which are dealing with less than one lakh birds, an application was filed as Original Application No.681 of 2017 (PB) (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) before the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi and the Principal Bench by order dated 16.09.2020, after considering the various articles and the possibility of pollution being caused by the poultry farms which are having less than one lakh birds and also after considering the report of the NEERI in respect of these activities, directed the CPCB to reconsider the policy and the applicability of the consent mechanism under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, instead of exempting it, relying on the earlier decision of the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal in O.A. No.46 of 2018 (Nuggehalli Jayasimha Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi) dealing with compliance of environmental norms by dairies and directed the DPCC to perform its responsibility under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 of enforcing environmental norms against the dairies, rejecting the plea that there is provision in the Municipal laws to address the issue and further held that overlapping provisions in the Municipal laws did not prevent the discharge the environmental authorities of their statutory responsibilities. The Tribunal also observed that there is no discretion to exempt the mandate of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 for activities having potential to cause water pollution and also held that the possibility of pollution being caused on account of the operation of the poultry farms cannot be disputed and leaving out poultry farms below one lakh birds unregulated by the SPCB and merely requiring registration with the local bodies or treating them at par with the agricultural farms will be against the mandate of sustainable development, which principle is to be enforced by the Tribunal and the Tribunal observed that there can be exemption granted of poultry farms who are dealing with 5,000 and less birds and the Tribunal allowed the application and directed the CPCB to revisit the guidelines for categorizing the poultry farms as Green Category and exempting their Page 32 of 48 regulations under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and issue fresh appropriate orders within three months and if no orders were issued, then all SPCBs/PCCs were directed to enforce the consent mechanism under the above said acts, after 01.01.2021 for all poultry farms above 5,000 birds in the same manner as is being done for farms having more than one lakh birds. Till then, even without such consent mechanism, the SPCBs/PCCs were directed to strictly enforce the environmental norms and take appropriate remedial action against any violation of water, air and soil standards statutorily laid down.
31. Pursuant to the direction, the CPCB had issued a subsequent guideline in August 2021 bringing all poultry farms handling birds above 25,000 at single location required to obtain Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate.
32. Thereafter, another application was filed before the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi as O.A. No.320 of 2021 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) projecting the inadequacy of the regulatory regime by way of consent mechanism and the revised guideline was also not meeting the situation and the Tribunal by order dated 10.12.2021, considered the revised guidelines issued in March 2021 vide CPCB letter dated 02.04.2021 and explained the possible environmental issues likely to be caused on account of the operation of the poultry farms and the same was extracted in Para (2) of the order which reads as follows:-
"6.0 Environmental Issues in Poultry Farms The environmental issues associated with poultry farms are as follows:
i. Solid waste (litter, dead birds & hatchery waste) ii. Air Emissions : Odour due to Gaseous emission (NH3& H2S )& dust generation iii. Breeding of flies, rodents, etc. Solid Waste In poultry farms, the major source of solid generation are as under:
i. Poultry droppings/Manure/Litter
ii. Dead Birds &
Page 33 of 48
iii. Hatchery Waste
Poultry Droppings/Litter/manure
Two types of waste are produced by poultry farms depending on the rearing system adopted.
Poultry litter - Waste from deep litter systems includes, different kinds of litter materials like rice husk, saw dust, groundnut hulls, wood shavings and dried leaves along with birds droppings.
Poultry droppings - Excreta collected under the cages, spilled feed and feathers.
Estimation of litter generation in poultry
Details Appro Approx Litter Litter Litter Litter
x water/da generation/d generation/ generation generation
feed/da y in ml ay/bird 5k birds/day /25 k /1.0 lacs
y in birds/day birds
gm
One 120-150 360- On avg. 200 Kg on 01 T on wet 04 T on
bird 450 Basis 40 wet basis basis wet basis
(Layer gm litter 3.2 T on
house) generated One bird
One 150-180 450- dry basis
bird 550
(Broiler
house)
Calculated on 20% moisture in litter.
In the layer farms the average poultry litter generated per bird/day estimated is 30 to 40 grams (Calculated on 20% moisture in litter). On average basis litter contains 20% to 40% of moisture. Poultry farms having 5000, 25,000 and 1,00,000 lacs birds generates approx. 0.2 T, 1 T and 4 T litter/day respectively on wet basis.
In case of Layer and Breeding farms, excreta is collected just below the bird cages directly on ground, made of stone slabs or concrete or impermeable compacted clay. Litter is collected and kept dry by maintaining good ventilation and free air flow to undergo aerobic composting. Once in four to six months, the manure is removed & sold.
In Broiler farm excreta is collected in bed made up of agro residue (rice husk, saw dust, groundnut hulls, wood shavings, and dried leaves) itself. Once in a day or two days the bed is scratched for mixing of litter. Once the chicken is sold for meat, the bed (rice husk, saw dust, groundnut hulls, wood shavings, and dried leaves) is removed once the cycle of 42 to 45 days gets over along with the excreta and sold as manure. The shed is washed and lime is applied as disinfectant and allows the area for quarantine period.
Dead Birds:
Death of the birds in poultry farms is a common phenomenon and their disposal is an issue. Open burning of dead bird is one of the common methods of disposing, especially among small-scale poultry operator. In this disposal method, dead birds are either fully burned at relatively high temperatures using different fuels causing atmospheric pollution and odour nuisance or buried in the burial pit in the premises.
Hatchery Waste:Page 34 of 48
Hatchery is important part of poultry industry and also produces large quantity of solid waste which comprises egg shells, unhatched eggs, dead embryos and chickens and a viscous liquid from eggs. Hatchery waste is disposed through open burning or through rendering plant to convert hatchery waste to poultry or pet feed.
Odour due to Gaseous emission The main issues in the Poultry are gaseous emission viz Ammonia (NH3), Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) & VOCs which is emanated from the excreta generated from the birds. The odour is produced due to anaerobic conditions in the litter occurs due to its storage at one place for longer period.
The general practice is to maintain good ventilation and free air flow to control odour & gaseous emissions i.e. Ammonia, Hydrogen Sulphide, VOCs to avoid the nuisances. Further, open burning of dead birds is one of the common methods, especially among small- scale poultry operator causing air emissions.
From the field study it is observed that litter is removed from the floor in layer farms once in six months in the Southern states whereas litter is removed twice in six months in Northern states due to climatic conditions.
Feed Mill Dust Poultry farms may also install feed mills for preparation of feed for birds. It involves mixing and grinding of various ingredients of feed. The process results in dust emissions. The feed mill operations are typically located inside the mill buildings. Dust extraction systems are generally used to collect the dust and to improve the shop floor environment.
Water runoff & Waste water generation Water in poultry farms is used for drinking of birds, in coolers/curtain cooling/roof sprinkling during the summer and for cleaning sheds and equipment in between batch replacement.
As such there is no process waste water generation from the poultry farming. However, wastewater is generated only during the cleaning operations in between batch replacements once in a year in case of layer farms, which is collected in holding tank and is utilized in the gardening.
Whereas in broiler farm the cycle is of 42 to 45 days and after completion of every cycle, the floor is washed with water and disinfection of the shed is carried out. Here also the wastewater generated from floor washing is utilized on land within the poultry premises. In breeder farm, one cycle is about 55 weeks sheds are cleaned and washed with water only after completion of the cycle. In hatchery operation, regular mopping and washing floor is carriedout.
Other issues:
Breeding of flies, rodents, etc and use of antibiotics in feed are the other issues in poultry farms. Antibiotics used in feed grade are known as Non therapeutic antibiotics, which is a cause of concern, as it is used in both the layer and broiler farm. Other use of antibiotics in poultry farms are for disease control, which are known as therapeutic antibiotics.
Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farms:Page 35 of 48
CPCB has framed the guidelines for Poultry Farms in the year 2015.Following are the revised Guidelines in compliance to Hon‟ble NGT order applicable for poultry farms having capacity above 5 000 birds .
Management of solid wastes (Solid Wastes containsManure/litter, Hatchery Debris and Dead Birds) Poultry droppings (Layer/Breeder farms) Droppings should be kept as dry as possible to avoid its anaerobic decomposition resulting in odour. Proper ventilation and free air flow should be maintained to keepthe manure in dry condition.
Dropping should be removed at regular interval (quarterly) from the floor & stored in scientifically developed storage facilities for further processing and utilization.
The poultry droppings/litter may be further converted into compost by adopting proper techniques by engaging expert institutes for its further use in the agricultural fields.
A conveyor belt removal system may be used to avoid the accumulation of droppings from caged layers.
Poultry litter (Broiler Farms) In broiler farms, birds are grown on floor laid with bedding material like rice husk, saw dust, etc, the excreta is discharged by the birds on the bedding material itself.The bed should be frequently scratched for mixingof litter.
The bedding material along with excreta should be kept dry as possible.
The litter along with the bedding martial should be removed at regular interval& stored in scientifically developed storage facilities for further processing and utilization.
Litter may be further converted into compost by adopting proper techniques by engaging expert institutes for its further use in the agricultural fields.
Litter/Manure handling and storage The litter removed from the Broiler/Layer/Breeder farms should be stored at a place in a covered shed having impervious flooring. The stored litter should be kept dry as far as possible. The litter may be further converted into compost by adopting proper techniques by engaging expert institutes for its further use in the agricultural fields.
Hatchery Waste The waste from hatchery which includes egg shells, unhatched eggs and liquid generated from hatchery may be collected scientifically and converted to poultry feeds in a rendering plant.
The hatchery waste may be mixed with soyabean and extruded to pet food Dead Birds Disposal Page 36 of 48 The dead birds arising from day to day farm activity should be separated from other live birds promptly and should be stored in closed containers and disposed off within 24 hours by following any of the disposal methods.
A) Burial Method:
The dead bird burial pit should be of 3 to 4 m in depth and 0.8 to 1.2 m diameter and located above minimum of 3 m from the ground water table.
The dead bird burial pit should be provided with a vermin/fly proof cover madeup of wooden / metal / concrete having a central operable lid of proper size for day to day dropping of carcasses.
When the pit is full, lime as disinfectant should be used and a compacted soil cover of 0.5 m should be provided with the top of the covered soil well above the ground level.
The distance between any two burial pits should not be less than 1 m.
B) Incineration The incinerator should be located in down wind direction to the poultry houses and populated areas.
The incinerator capacity should be of sufficient size such that no un- burnt carcasses are left in a day‟s operation.
The guide lines and standards prescribed under Bio- Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 should be followed for erection and operation of the incinerator Air Emission (Includes gaseous emission, Odour and Dust) Minimization of odour/gaseous pollution problem Proper ventilation and free flow of air should be ensured over manure collection points to keep it dry Provision of a well- designed ventilation system and extractors should be made to attenuate odour nuisances. Removal of dead birds should be prompt. Regular disinfection of farm should be carried out . The farm premises should be kept clean and tidy at all times with good housekeeping. Plantation around poultry farms should be done to reduce the odour nuisances. The manure should be protected from runoff water so as to reduce thepossibility of odour nuisance. Litter should be regularly removed and stored in the well-designed storage pit Feed Mills Feed mill and godown should be located on a well elevated ground preferably near the entrance to the farm and isolated from other poultry sheds. Dust collectorsystem should be installed in the feed mill. Workers in the feed mill should be provided with dust masks. Provision for vehicle tyre dip should be made available at the entrance control gate. Adequate fire and other accident safety provisions should be provided. Interaction of feeds with wild birds, rodents, pests, flies etc, should be avoided as a measure of food safety and prevention of spread of diseases. Spillages should be avoided to discourage habitation for pests and rodents. Sanitation and cleanliness should be maintained as a routine to ensure quality Page 37 of 48 and safety of feed grains Antibiotics should not be mixed withfeed or administered for non-therapeutic purposes without prescription for diseased birds Waste water Management The waste water generated from the cleaning operations (after each batch removal) should be collected in appropriate holding tank and put to use in the green belt. Water use and spills from drinking devices should be reduced by preventing overflow or leakages and using calibrated, well-maintained self- watering devices; The holding tanks should be provided to collect the wastewater generated from the floor cleaning from the layer /broiler farms and hatchery wastes Others (Control of Flies, Rodents and Use of Antibiotics in feed) Control of Flies: Proper treatment and disposal of manure, ventilation of sheds, control of temperature, good sanitation, swift repairs of leaks, avoidance of feed spills, prompt removal of broken eggs and dead birds should be ensured for control of flies in the poultry farms. The farm should have provisions of wire nettings, traps, fly-repellents, insecticides etc. Control of Rodents: Methods for the control of rodents may include: i) Exclusion ii) Trapping Glue boards iv) Slow killing toxic baits v) Rapid killing toxic baits and Tracking powder. Regulation foruse of antibiotics comes under the purview of Department of animal husbandry and Ministry of Health and the Drug Controller General of India and need to be regulated as per the advisory/directions issued by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Ministry of Health and the Drug Controller General of India. Bureau of Indian Standards 1374: 2007, on poultry feed also specifies that the use of antibiotic growth promoters are not recommended in poultry feed, hence use of antibiotics should not be mixed with feed or administered for nontherapeutic purposes without prescription for diseased birds Good House Keeping Practices in Poultry Farms The following good management Practices should be practiced in Poultry Farms:
Proper treatment and disposal of manure, ventilation of sheds, control of temperature, good sanitation, swift repairs of leaks, avoidance of feed spills, prompt removal of broken eggs and dead birds should be provided for control of odour& flies. The farm should have provisions provision of wire nettings, traps, flyrepellents, insecticides etc. Poultry farms should be well designed and constructed with proper fencing with barbed wires/link mesh/concrete walls upto 1.5 m height and above. Green belt all around the farms should be provided with minimum of two rows spaced apart not more than 3 m. It should be regularly cleaned and disinfected to maintain sanitary conditions, 69 14 The nutritious meal should be provided to the birds for the their healthy growth. Spillages of water and feed should be avoided. Integrated pest control and management should be implement to control pests and limit pesticide use on farm. Dead birds should be removed and disposed in a scientific way.
Siting Criteria The siting criteria shall be applicable for the new establishments. The old establishments shall follow the environmental guidelines.
The poultry farm should not be located within Page 38 of 48 500 m from residential zone in order to avoid nuisance caused due to odour & flies 200 m from major water course like River, Lakes and canals and 100 m from any drinking water source like wells, summer storage tanks, in order to avoidcontamination due to leakages/spillages, if any. 100 m from nearby poultry, dairy or another livestock enterprises or industry to prevent diseases to birds from the nearby livestock. 200 m from national Highway (NH) and 100 m from State Highway (SH)in order to avoid nuisance caused due to odour& flies The Poultry sheds should not be located within 10 m from farm boundary for cross ventilation and odour dispersion The Poultry sheds should be positioned on East to West direction to prevent direct sun shine falling on the birds inside the house Administrative mechanism • The hatcheries of any size which are performing this exclusive operation, feed mills of any capacity and the commercial poultry farms which are handling more than 5,000 birds at a given time on any single location need to obtain consent to operate under the provisions of environmental law.
• The poultry farms which are handling more than 5000 birds at a given time in single location need to approach State Pollution Control Board to obtain necessary Consent for Operation under Air Act, 1981.
• The regulatory mechanism shall be applicable in phase manner as per the details given below:
i) Poultry Farms above 50,000: guidelines shall be applicable from the date of issue of guidelines.
ii) Poultry farms above 25,000 to 50000: guidelines shall be applicable after one year from the date of issue of guidelines.
iii) Poultry farms above 5,000 to 25000: guidelines shall be applicable after two year from the date of issue of guidelines."
33. Thereafter, the Tribunal had passed the following order:-
"3. The applicant raised objections and suggested further strengthening of mechanism and reducing timelines. The CPCB thereafter issued revised Guidelines in August, 2021, extending the consent mechanism to poultry farms handing more than 25000 birds and exempting others as follows:
"8.0 Regulatory/ Monitoring Mechanism for Poultry Farms SPCBs/PCCs shall upload Environmental Guidelines on their website.
Guidelines shall be applicable to all the category of Poultry Farms.
Poultry Farms handling birds above 25,000 at single location will have to obtain consent to establish (CTE) and consent for operate (CTO) under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act 1981 from State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee.
The Poultry Farms are categorized under "Green" Category, therefore validity of consent will be 15 yrs.Page 39 of 48
Animal Husbandry Department of the State/Districts to assist the poultry farms for implementation of Guidelines."
2. Only reason for the above change from Guidelines proposed in August, 2021 is that poultry farms upto 25000 birds are small and in unorganized sector. The said observations in the guidelines are quoted below:
"4.0 Classification of Poultry Farms Backyard poultry is typically owned by small and marginal farmer and comprises of few birds, largely for self-consumption and very small quantities get commercially sold. The poultry farming practiced by the rural and tribal farmers under free range or backyard or semi- intensive systems is usually referred to as rural poultry farming.
Based on the number of handling of birds, Poultry farms may be classified into three categories.
Small (5,000-25,000 bird) Medium (above 25,000-1,00,000 birds). Large (above 1,00,000 birds) The poultry farms under small category are in un-organized sector run by economically weaker farmers and are of rural background"
3. We have heard Mr. Raj Panjwani, Senior Advocate, who submitted that there is no justification for exempting poultry farms below 25000 birds even after this Tribunal held that all poultry farms above 5000 birds were required to be brought under the consent mechanism and even after proposing such regulation in March 2021 guidelines, based on expert study, as noted earlier. Observation that poultry farms with less than 25000 birds are run by small farmers in unorganized sector is untenable and against the Precautionary Principle of environmental law, as already held by this Tribunal vide order dated 16.09.2020, referred to above, that regulation of all poultry farms beyond 5000 birds is necessary. To this extent, decision of CPCB being against the decision of this Tribunal and against precautionary principle. A person running poultry farm of more than 5000 birds cannot be said to be small farmer nor their pollution potential left unregulated. At best some time can be given for regulation in phased manner as proposed in March, 2021 proposed Guidelines. Accordingly, we direct that while the impugned guidelines be immediately enforced, all poultry farms above 5000 birds will also be covered by the said guidelines latest from 1.1.2023. The siting criteria should apply to all consents/renewals hereafter for the above size of the poultry farms. CPCB may issue revised guidelines to all the State PCBs/PCCs in terms of the above order within one month.
The application is disposed of.
A copy of this order be forwarded to CPCB by e-mail for compliance.
It is made clear that if CPCB is aggrieved by this order, it will be atliberty to move this Tribunal."
34. By virtue of the same, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal though partially approved the guidelines issued by the CPCB to bring the poultry farms having 25,000 birds at single location, but observed that it is not sufficient and it must be extended to poultry farms having 5,000 and more birds at single location as well, as the guidelines issued was Page 40 of 48 against the directions issued by the Tribunal in O.A. No.681 of 2017 dated 16.09.2020 and directed the CPCB to issue further direction in tune with the directions issued in this case and allowed time for the poultry farms having 5,000 and more birds to get consent at least from 01.01.2023.
35. So under such circumstances, till the orders passed by the Principal Bench in O.A. No.681 of 2017, as per the guidelines issued by the CPCB only those poultry farms having more than one lakh birds at single location are expected to obtain consent from the Pollution Control Board. After the orders passed by the Principal Bench in O.A. No.681 of 2017 dated 16.09.2020, all poultry farms having 5,000 and more birds are brought under the consent mechanism and time line was fixed by the Principal Bench to obtain the same as 01.01.2021 and on the basis of the directions issued by the Tribunal in that case, the CPCB had issued further guidelines in August 2021, bringing the poultry farms having more than 25,000 birds at single location under the consent mechanism under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Subsequently, by virtue of the directions issued by the Principal Bench, New Delhi in O.A. No.320 of 2021 dated 10.02.2021, the CPCB issued further circular in January 2022 to bring the poultry farms having above 5,000 birds under the consent mechanism in tune with the directions issued by the Principal Bench in O.A. No.320 of 2021 referred to above.
36. So, as on today, the law requires consent to be obtained by the poultry farms which are having more than 5,000 birds at single location, but as regards the poultry farms having 25,000 birds and more, they were already brought under the consent mechanism by the existing guidelines issued by the CPCB in August 2021 and by virtue of the order in O.A. No.320 of 2021, all poultry farms having birds more than 5,000 have to obtain consent at least from 01.01.2023.
37. As regards the 4th respondent unit is concerned, they are covered by the order dated 16.09.2020 of the Principal Bench in O.A. No.681 of 2017 and the revised guidelines issued by the CPCB in August 2021 and they ought Page 41 of 48 to have obtained consent from the Pollution Control Board complying with the siting criteria provided therein.
38. It is seen from the reply filed by the 4th respondent and also the latest report submitted by the State Pollution Control Board that the 4th respondent had applied for consent and it was returned for certain defect and as and when it is represented, they will consider the application and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law.
39. So, at least from 01.01.2021, where the timeline was fixed by the Principal Bench to obtain consent for poultry farms having more than 5,000 birds, the 4th respondent ought to have applied and obtained consent from the Pollution Control Board in conformity with the guidelines issued of siting criteria etc. and running the unit without obtaining consent will amount to violation, for which, the Pollution Control Board is expected to take action.
40. As regards the drawal of water is concerned, though as per the notification issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2014, Namakkal District has been categorized as overexploited area and NOC has to be obtained for drawing groundwater for the purpose other than the drinking and agricultural purpose. It is also seen from the documents produced by the Pollution Control Board as well as along with the Joint Committee report that poultry farms were treated as an allied agricultural activity by the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India to bring such activity under the priority sector for granting loan and the Government of Tamil Nadu also treated such activity as allied agricultural activities and exempted from obtaining NOC for drawing groundwater. However, considering the nature of area, the Pollution Control Board while granting consent can consider this aspect regarding imposing certain restrictions on quantity of groundwater to be drawn by the poultry farms for their activities applying the „Precautionary Principle‟ to protect the groundwater level in that area.
Page 42 of 4841. The Joint Committee report shows that except certain violations regarding maintenance of greenbelt and also fencing and siting criteria of providing shed etc. from the boundary, the maintenance of poultry farms in respect of pollution control mechanism was found to be satisfactory and there was no possibility of any pollution being caused on account of the operation of the unit. If there is any possibility of infection being caused due to planting of high growing trees as suggested by the Veterinary Department as observed in the Joint Committee report, then the CPCB is directed to issue necessary guidelines as to what is the nature of greenbelt will have to be developed or other mechanism by which odour pollution can be mitigated by the poultry farms and that must be done by them at the earliest possible time, as delay in issuing guidelines will only aggravate the pollution problems for want of greenbelt around the poultry farm from the neighbouring lands.
42. Further, it is seen from the report that the poultry farm was established in 2006, whereas the applicant had constructed the house in the neighbouring property only thereafter. So, they cannot now insist for siting criteria to be maintained, as the poultry farm is in existence even prior to the construction of the house by the applicant and they were not falling under the siting criteria or other guidelines to be followed by the poultry farms on the basis of the guidelines issued by the CPCB in 2015. This aspect may be considered by the Pollution Control Board when they applied for consent as directed by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi and also as per the new guidelines issued in August 2021 by the CPCB in this regard, but this will not applicable to other siting criteria provided in the guideline.
43. So under such circumstances, we feel that the application can be disposed of by giving following directions:-
a. The 4th Respondent is liable to obtain consent for conducting the poultry farm atleast from 01.01.2021 as directed by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi in Original Application No.681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) and subsequent directions issued by the CPCB and SPCB in Page 43 of 48 this regard and conducting the poultry farm without obtaining consent in violation of the directions of the Principal Bench will amount to violation of environmental laws.
b. The 4th respondent is directed to obtain consent from the State Pollution Control Board and till then, they are directed not to operate the poultry farm. The 4th respondent is also directed to adhere to the guidelines issued by the CPCB and rectify the deficiencies noted by the Joint Committee regarding the siting criteria of fencing and construction of sheds from the boundary in tune with the guideline issued.
c. In the Joint Committee report, it was seen that the Veterinary Department was of the opinion that if the high growing trees are planted, there is a possibility of infection being caused to the birds in the poultry farm, but it cannot be an exemption of providing greenbelt as it acts as barrier to protect the air and sound pollution. If there is any possibility of infection being caused by planting high growing trees as suggested by the Veterinary Department and observed in the Joint Committee report, the CPCB is directed to issue necessary guidelines as to what is the nature of greenbelt that will have to be developed indicating species of plants that can be used after conducting some study on this aspect or other mechanism by which the air or other pollution that is likely to be caused can be mitigated in respect poultry farm as an alternate for greenbelt and this must be last resort only if the greenbelt is totally not feasible. The guidelines in this regard must be issued by the CPCB at the earliest possible time at any rate within a period of 6 (Six) months, as causing delay in issuing guidelines in this regard will only aggravate the pollution problem for want of greenbelt/alternate mechanism around the poultry farm from the neighbouring lands. Till this is done by the CPCB, Tamil Nadu PCB in consultation with the Veterinary Department can evolve a temporary measure of providing greenbelt or any alternative mechanism for poultry farms mentioning the methodology as to how this can be done and what type of species can be planted in case greenbelt is conducive for safety of the birds which is reared in the poultry farms.Page 44 of 48
d. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is directed to consider the application (if any) filed by the 4th respondent for consent and dispose of the same as expeditiously as possible without delay. e. While considering the application for consent, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is also directed to consider the availability of groundwater, as the Namakkal District was notified as overexploited area by Government Notification and fix the quantity of water that can be drawn from the well for the purpose of poultry farm by the 4th respondent or her men, so as to avoid depletion of groundwater in the well which is intended for the common use by the 4th respondent as well as the applicant.
f. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is also directed to take steps against the poultry farms which have not obtained consent including the 4th respondent unit as provided under the guidelines issued by the CPCB and the directions issued by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi in Original Application No.681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) dated 16.09.2020 and Original Application No.320 of 2021 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) dated 10.12.2021, including imposition of environmental compensation and other coercive action as provided under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 in accordance with law.
44. The points are answered accordingly.
45. In the result, this Original Application is allowed in part and disposed of with the following directions:-
i. The 4th Respondent is liable to obtain consent for conducting the poultry farm atleast from 01.01.2021 as directed by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi in Original Application No.681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) and subsequent directions issued by the CPCB and SPCB in this regard and conducting the poultry farm without obtaining consent in violation of the directions Page 45 of 48 of the Principal Bench will amount to violation of environmental laws.
ii. The 4th respondent is directed to obtain consent from the State Pollution Control Board and till then, they are directed not to operate the poultry farm. The 4th respondent is also directed to adhere to the guidelines issued by the CPCB and rectify the deficiencies noted by the Joint Committee regarding the siting criteria of fencing and construction of sheds from the boundary in tune with the guideline issued.
iii. In the Joint Committee report, it was seen that the Veterinary Department was of the opinion that if the high growing trees are planted, there is a possibility of infection being caused to the birds in the poultry farm, but it cannot be an exemption of providing greenbelt as it acts as barrier to protect the air and sound pollution. If there is any possibility of infection being caused by planting high growing trees as suggested by the Veterinary Department and observed in the Joint Committee report, the CPCB is directed to issue necessary guidelines as to what is the nature of greenbelt that will have to be developed indicating species of plants that can be used after conducting some study on this aspect or other mechanism by which the air or other pollution that is likely to be caused can be mitigated in respect poultry farm as an alternate for greenbelt and this must be last resort only if the greenbelt is totally not feasible. The guidelines in this regard must be issued by the CPCB at the earliest possible time at any rate within a period of 6 (Six) months, as causing delay in issuing guidelines in this regard will only aggravate the pollution problem for want of greenbelt/alternate mechanism around the poultry farm from the neighbouring lands. Till this is done by the CPCB, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board in consultation with the Veterinary Department can evolve a temporary measure of providing greenbelt or any alternative mechanism for poultry Page 46 of 48 farms mentioning the methodology as to how this can be done and what type of species can be planted in case greenbelt is conducive for safety of the birds which is reared in the poultry farms.
iv. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is directed to consider the application (if any) filed by the 4th respondent for consent and dispose of the same as expeditiously as possible without delay.
v. While considering the application for consent, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is also directed to consider the availability of groundwater, as the Namakkal District was notified as overexploited area by Government Notification and fix the quantity of water that can be drawn from the well for the purpose of poultry farm by the 4th respondent or her men, so as to avoid depletion of groundwater in the well which is intended for the common use by the 4th respondent as well as the applicant.
vi. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is also directed to take steps against the poultry farms which have not obtained consent including the 4th respondent unit as provided under the guidelines issued by the CPCB and the directions issued by the Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal, New Delhi in Original Application No.681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) dated 16.09.2020 and Original Application No.320 of 2021 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors.) dated 10.12.2021, including imposition of environmental compensation and other coercive action as provided under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 in accordance with law.
vii. Considering the circumstances, parties are directed to bear their respective costs in the application.Page 47 of 48
viii. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the District Environmental Engineer - TNPCB, Namakkal District, District Collector - Namakkal District, Ground Water Authority, and the Chairman - Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board for their information and compliance of directions.
46. With the above observations and directions, this Original Application is disposed of.
Sd/-
Justice K. Ramakrishnan, JM Sd/-
Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati, EM O.A. No.147/2020 (SZ), 24th August 2022. Mn.
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